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Dehumanization In David Livingstone Smith's 'Less Than Human'

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We wake up in the morning, get ready to go to work or school and we leave our house or apartment to be at a place where there are several people. We do not think about people and their races consciously, it is a subconscious thought and this thought could lead to several things. Some individuals can view others as fellow human beings while others view them as less than human or even people who do not deserve to be where they are right now. It might not be the first thought that crosses our minds but it crosses our mind subconsciously. We do not act or behave in a way where we make them feel like they are different from us because doing so seems to be morally wrong. We all have the ability to dehumanize but we do not because it is morally wrong. David Livingstone Smith, a professor of philosophy at the University of New England, supports this claim. Smith wrote a book called Less Than Human in which he discusses the concept of dehumanization in depth. Alan Page Fiske, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles is known for studying the nature of human relationships and cross-culture variations between them. Tage Shakti Rai is a Post‐Doctoral Research Fellow in the Center for Global …show more content…

Merriam Webster dictionary defines moral as of or relating to the principles of right and wrong behavior. However, Fiske and Rai define moral as an action used to constitute, create or regulate social relationships. The people committing the violence believe that what they are doing is morally right and that they are morally motivated to participate in such

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Long Hours Of Darkness That dehumanization his like abusing someone to take away somebody's freedom as it how it was back then slavery the whites was treating the black like animals. In the book of night there is like groups of people that's fighting for freedom it's like dehumanization. What i read was the book called “Night” by Elie Wiesel

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Racism is the belief or idea of superiority of one race over another, often resulting in discrimination and/or prejudice towards people of the race. The ideology underlying racist practices often includes the idea that humans can be divided into distinct groups that are different due to their social behavior and their innate capacities as well as the idea that they can be ranked as inferior or superior. Since the late 20th century the notion of biological race has been recognized as a cultural invention, entirely without scientific basis. Structural Racism in the U.S. is the normalization of an array of dynamics – historical, cultural, institutional and interpersonal – that routinely advantage whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color. It is a system of hierarchy and inequity, primarily characterized by white supremacy – the preferential treatment, privilege and power for white people at the expense of Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Arab and other racially oppressed people.

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In the book, Night, Dehumanization majorly affects the Jews. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than things. It makes the Jews want to give up. There are many examples of dehumanization, including beating, selection, and robbery. Eliezer was whipped in front of everyone during roll call, “…I shall therefore try to make him understand clearly once and for all…I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip.

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In the 1800’s slavery was a major issue in the United States which was dealt with on a daily basis in the South. The “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” Fedrick Douglass himself expresses the differences in the lives of black people in the North and in the South. The South was known to have some of the wealthiest white people in the states, that wealth and power they had was due to the many slaves they had working in their plantations. In the other hand, the North had black people getting paid for their labor, their black people were free. They were treated like human beings and even though they might still encounter problems with some of the whites these problems where nothing compared to the retched life blacks had in the South.

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In this interview, C.P. Ellis illustrates his racist transformation after interacting with African-Americans. Although, there is not a simple answer to what causes prejudice, three of Parrillo’s theories that have an immense influence on becoming prejudice are socialization, economic competition and social norms. A theory presented by Parrillo, is the theory of the socialization process where individuals are heavily molded by the beliefs of those around them, resulting in the individual carrying on prejudiced beliefs. Parrillo defines, “in the socialization process individuals acquire the values, attitudes,

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Morality is a set of values held by a person in making when judging and evaluating what is deemed right or wrong, good or bad (Brandt, 1959). When we talk about morality in counseling it’s about the reasoning by the counselor that has four levels. They are, personal intuition, ethical guidelines established by professional organizations, ethical principles and general theories of moral action (Kitchener, 1984). Ethics is described as adopted principles that has relations to man’s behavior and moral decision making (Van Hoose & Kottler, 1985). Ethics is often thought as a synonym to morality.

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To not see a black or white person also takes away from our diversity and is just as harmful as racism. We don’t want to live in a world where everyone is the same. We want to live in a world everyone’s race is known and respected. We overcome that by education people about other people culture. Only education of other people’s culture will help to understand that there is more then one normal and to know label anything nonwhite as ethnic but to merge everyone together.

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In keeping point of views like this alive in society, we are making those races that are seen as second rate, have no possibility of amplify their status. Realizing that there are no natural elements improving one race than another. Race, which prompts injustice, is basically something that is in use to establish brutalities, merciless and unforgivable treatment of persons all around the globe. Racism should be congested.

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